


My Eyes Beheld You

by terra_incognita



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Mistaken Identity, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 09:42:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9118201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terra_incognita/pseuds/terra_incognita
Summary: After the war, Kaoru is sold in marriage to someone more myth than man--the Hitokiri Battousai himself. When she flees the caravan on her way to meet her husband-to-be she encounters a red-haired stranger in the forest, and he offers to help her escape. Who is this ragged vagabond, and why is he so moved by her desperate bid for freedom?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This oneshot is shamelessly based on the opening scene of the musical Camelot, wherein King Arthur happens upon Guinevere in the forest while she's praying. I don't intend to continue it--if I followed in the vein of the musical it would get depressing really quickly--but I had fun writing it and I hope you'll enjoy the read.

_Oh Genevieve,  
Saint Genevieve,  
__Where were you when my youth was sold?_  
_Dear Genevieve,_  
 _Sweet Genevieve,_  
 _Shan't I be young before I'm old?_  
________________________________________  
  
The caravan was far behind her now. Kaoru had been running for what felt like hours, the snow eating up the sound of her footfalls as she raced through the flurries and deeper into the thick forest that surrounded the Battousai's estate. The procession had stopped briefly so that Kaoru's hair could be twisted up into its elaborate wedding knot, and in the moment the hairdresser had stepped out of the tent to fetch something from the saddlebags Kaoru had made her escape. No one had seen her vanishing into the underbrush.

A root tripped her up now, and she fell to her knees in an undignified tumble. The snow absorbed most of her shocked yelp, but if she'd been looking up she would have noticed a pair of inquisitive violet eyes peering down through the branches of a nearby tree.

She hadn't gone unnoticed. Not completely.

Not bothering to stand up, Kaoru pushed herself onto her knees and began shaking the snow out of her sleeves and hair. She was an impossible mess, but there was a certain thrill to the knowledge that the once-beautiful silk of her kimono could never be salvaged. The wedding garment had been thoroughly ruined. A good omen, Kaoru thought.

When she finally glanced up from her bedraggled sleeve, it was to see a small pile of stones. It wasn't a natural pile, as might be formed by stones tumbling down an incline. No, someone had carefully stacked these stones. An offering, maybe. Or an invocation. A spirit lived here.

Kaoru bowed her head a little grudgingly. She'd been raised to be polite to spirits, but at the moment she had more than a little to be annoyed with them for.

"Forgive me for intruding," she murmured, voice quiet enough that she would only have been heard by someone quite close--and downwind. "I didn't know this place belonged to anyone."

Only the sound of the whispering wind answered her, and Kaoru raised her head stubbornly to scowl at the little cairn. "Though I don't know why I should be apologizing," she quipped. "After all, I didn't ask to be brought here. I didn't ask to be sold. But here I am, shipped off like an antique vase! Bought and paid for!"

She shook her finger admonishingly at the cairn. "You! You're meant to watch over people! What the hell kind of show are you running? Father dead, family in disgrace, how could it possibly get any worse? Oh, I know. Pack up the eldest daughter and bundle her into a palanquin in midwinter, marry her off to a bloodthirsty murderer! Well done."

The wind stilled, and Kaoru's bad temper abated with it. She sat back on her heels and sighed.

"Sorry," she muttered. "It's not your fault. I know it's not. This is a human mess."

Reaching up, she scrubbed the ruined silk of her sleeves over her face. Her makeup came off in streaks, and with another scowl she scooped up handfuls of snow to wipe away the rest of it. When her hands fell away she finally felt clean. Her face was rosy with cold, but at least it was her face.

Her breath puffed out as a little cloud of steam. She imagined it was her soul, drifting away on the wind.

Kaoru knew she would have to go back. She really did. It had been foolish to run away in the first place. As it was, the Hitokiri Battousai would be getting the worst possible first impression of her--a scrubby woman in a ruined kimono, no makeup, soaked to the bone and looking about as happy as a wet cat.

At least it would be an accurate impression.

Tucking her hands into her sleeves to keep them warm, Kaoru's wrist brushed something round and hard. The stone, she remembered, drawing it out. A little stone from outside her father's dojo. She'd tucked it into her sleeve when she'd been escorted out that morning. She stared down at its smooth, dark surface, worn away by her own determined feet after years and years of coming and going from that sacred hall.

The sharp swish of a wooden sword parting the air as she practiced her katas. Her father's approving murmur. Outside, the soft sound of her mother tending to the garden. The flutter of birds. Pieces of a dead life.

Now, she reasoned, it was time to let it go. Time to leave it behind.

She reached out--slowly, slowly--and placed the smooth stone on the little cairn. Then, bowing low, she stood and turned to go.

Which was when a branch cracked somewhere in the trees above her, and a dark shape hurtled down in a rain of twigs and snow to land in a nearby drift with an audible WHUMP.

Kaoru screamed, jumping back and only barely managing to keep her feet. She almost sank into a defensive stance but the kimono--damn the thing--restricted her legs, so she could only shift her knees apart slightly. "Who the hell are you?" she barked, hoping to cover her alarm with bravado.

"Oro…" came the muffled reply, and after a moment one slender hand emerged from the drift. It was followed by another and then the hem of a magenta gi, and suddenly a slightly-built man with long red hair was standing in front of her patting the snow out of his clothes. Kaoru took another uncertain step back when he looked up, soft eyes and a kind smile confusing her enough to still her retreat.

"Forgive me," he said, clearly embarrassed, "I did not wish to interrupt, or to frighten you, but I appear to have done both."

"You were listening!" she accused, realizing that he'd been lurking in the branches above her for some time. "You heard me praying!"

The chagrined expression on his face was answer enough. "I couldn't help it miss, you did pray rather loudly." Remembering himself, he lifted his hands placatingly. "But forgive me for intruding on your private thoughts, I did not mean to."

Kaoru scowled. He was impudent, this vagrant, but he had been here first. "You could've at least told me you were here. I wouldn't have spoken so candidly."

He frowned, tilting his head to one side. "About that," he said hesitantly. "I don't mean to intrude…"

"Then don't."

"It's just…" The man appeared to be choosing his words carefully. She noticed a scar on his cheek, two lines marking an X-shaped pattern. Memory stirred, but his words chased it away. "It's just that, well, it sounds as though you're in a predicament. And I would not like to leave without offering some assistance."

"There's nothing you can do." Her legs twinged, and Kaoru remembered that she'd been running through the snow for some time before she'd fallen at the foot of the makeshift altar. She dusted the snow from the root that'd tripped her up and perched on it a little precariously.

"Nonetheless," he ventured, "Maybe discussing it… Maybe that will help?"

"I've been sold in marriage," she explained, and his eyebrows rose. She continued. "Sold to a murderer by my uncle."

Kaoru watched as realization dawned in his eyes. She was richly dressed, and there was only one man in this forest wealthy enough to have bought such a bride. The Hitokiri Battousai himself.

"I see," he said softly. He sat down on a fallen log, his eyes suddenly distant. "That is a troubling problem indeed. I wouldn't like to be sold to anyone, much less a killer."

The rumors Kaoru had heard danced through her head. She bit hard at her lip. "They say," she started. "They say he's killed a thousand men. Women, too."

"They do say that," the man answered grimly.

"Is it true?" Kaoru asked, suddenly desperate to know.

"He has killed a great many," the man confirmed. "Few have crossed swords with him and lived to tell of it."

She let her head fall, just slightly. It was true then. That rumor, and who knew how many of the others. "So you know you can't help me."

Kaoru expected an apologetic smile. Maybe some sad, sympathetic words. But those violet eyes met hers again and they were thoughtful.

"I can take you to the nearest village," he said. "I have some money. Enough to buy you clothes that won't…" He gestured to her ruined, but undeniably rich kimono. "…that won't stand out so much. And passage on a coach headed East."

Kaoru stared, her mouth hanging open slightly. The man's clothes were worn, and his hands were rough with labor. He couldn't have been rich. And yet here he was, offering her what must have been all his savings for a chance that she might be free.

"I…" Her throat was dry. She coughed, tried again. "That's very…" Again, she faltered. Finally, "Who are you?"

It wasn't what she'd meant to ask. And really, it was almost a rude question. It came out incredulous, almost disbelieving. But he just smiled warmly, and bowed where he sat. "Just a swordsman," he answered humbly. "My name is Himura Kenshin. And yours?"

"Kamiya Kaoru," she replied numbly, her mind still swirling confusedly. "I'm-- My name is Kamiya Kaoru."

"Well, Miss Kaoru," he said, lifting his head again and standing up, "I do not wish to rush you, but the next coach departs in an hour. If we're to get you on board--"

"Wait," she said, and only realized she'd stood up herself when her hand tangled in his worn sleeve. "Himura. I don't-- You offer me too much. I have nothing to give you in return for this kindness. Why would you do this for a stranger?"

Those eyes again. They were so gentle, so sincere, that she found herself almost shaking with the weight of their gaze. "Because I know what it is to be sold," he answered softly. "And I do not think that anyone should be made to give up their freedom."

The words moved Kaoru to her core. Her hand slipped from his sleeve and rose to cover her mouth, and only a quick sharp breath kept the tears from coming. Himura moved his hands to her shoulders, concern written clearly on his face, but she shook her head.

"It's fine," she whispered. "I'm fine." Then she forced herself to look away. "It's. It's a generous offer. More generous than I deserve, I'm sure. But I can't accept." Another shaky breath. "Battousai is a killer," she explained. "And I don't know what he would do if he discovered you'd helped me. There is no mercy in his heart. Please understand," she hurried to continue, "It isn't that I doubt your skill with a sword. But he is a practiced assassin, and no man can stand against him. I feel certain he would kill you."

When she looked up again there was something like amusement in Himura's eyes, but it was mixed with the saddest kind of heartbreak. "It's very kind of you to worry for me Miss Kaoru," he said softly, "But there is nothing Battousai can take from me that I have not already given him."

Frowning, Kaoru was about to ask what he meant when Himura jerked upright and turned to face the trees. At that moment a host of guards appeared, moving toward them at a run.

"There she is!" one bellowed, pointing to the place where the two of them stood.

"Who's that brigand with her?" another shouted, drawing his sword. "A ronin! He must have captured her!"

More swords were drawn, and the guards advanced on the little clearing with obvious menace. Kaoru flung up her hands. "No!" she cried, "He didn't take me! I ran away, I--" She swung around to face Himura. "Run!" she begged, pushing at his shoulder, but he didn't retreat. "Please, you have to run! They'll kill you for my capture!"

His eyes flickered to her, and back to the armed men marching ever closer. "I do not think so," he said simply.

"Himura I'm begging you, you've been kind to me, you don't deserve--"

She was interrupted by the sudden cry of, "Battousai!"

Kaoru whirled around, her eyes searching the tree line, but she could see no one. How had he found them so quickly? Was he in the trees? "He's here," she whispered, her voice hoarse and terrified. "Himura you have to run, please, you have to get out of here!"

"Forgive us, my lord," the guard continued. "We did not recognize you."

Her blood ran cold. Slowly, Kaoru turned to stare at the guard who had spoken. He had sunk into a low bow, and one by one the other guards bent at the waist in imitation. Kaoru's uncomprehending gaze flickered back to Himura, whose kind eyes were shuttered in a way they hadn't been before. Realization hit her like an icy wind.

"Battousai…" The name was barely a whisper on her lips.

"You are dismissed," he informed the guards, his tone gentle but firm. They rose, nodding acknowledgement, and filed away into the forest much more quietly than they'd arrived. Neither of the figures in the little clearing moved until the last one had disappeared into the stillness of the snow.

"…You," she said softly. "It's you. You're him."

He avoided her gaze very carefully. "I'm sorry for my deception," he told her. "I didn't want to frighten you."

"You're the assassin," she breathed. "But--" A confused, animal noise escaped her. "But you bought me! Why would you offer to help me escape?"

Himura was shaking his head before she'd finished speaking. "I didn't buy you," he told her, and there was a kind of stoniness in his voice. "The Emperor believes that he owes me. For my services, during the war. I have told him that he does not, but he persists. He has given me titles that I don't deserve, money that I didn't earn, and lands that I don't know how to govern. And when I told him I had no knowledge of the proper running of a house…"

He trailed off. He sighed. "He told me he would find someone to do it for me." Meeting her eyes again, he gave her a look of such helpless embarrassment that she almost laughed. Or would have, if she'd felt at all like laughing.

"So," she said carefully, "The Emperor bought me for you."

Himura nodded.

"And," she continued, "You don't want me."

Himura opened his mouth, then let it fall closed again. He hesitated. Then he spoke. "I… do not want you bought for me."

A silence passed between them as she tried to puzzle out just what he meant.

"I came here," he confessed haltingly, and then suddenly the words were tumbling out of him as though a dam had broken. "I often come out here to think. To be alone. Today I came to avoid being at the estate when you arrived." A pale blush colored his cheeks but he continued. "I was. Forgive me. Frightened to meet you."

"Frightened?" This time she did laugh. It escaped her in a bubbling burst, surprising both of them. "The Hitokiri Battousa, frightened?"

He winced, and she got the feeling that he didn't much like his title. "Terrified," he admitted. "I thought I would look into your eyes and see nothing but my own reflection, staring back at me. And I couldn't bear it. So I ran." He walked over to the little stone cairn, his hands--calloused, she realized now, by years of royally-mandated murder--brushing over the smooth dark stone she'd carried here in the sleeve of her wedding kimono. "But--ever clumsy--I stumbled on my destiny regardless."

His destiny. Kaoru's heart made a strange little skip in her chest.

"You found me," she supplied.

Himura nodded, his fingers sliding away from the stone. "I found you," he agreed. "And I heard your prayer, and saw your eyes, and instead of seeing my own reflection in them I saw your fire and your strength. And I thought, maybe this is a destiny I shouldn't run from."

Another silence. She stared at him, her eyes wide, her heart fairly racing.

"That," she said hesitantly, "That doesn't explain why you offered to help me escape."

"Doesn't it?" He turned to her again, and his smile was so sad that it nearly broke her heart. "You wanted freedom. If that was the only gift I could give you, why wouldn't I offer it freely?"

She didn't answer. Just stared, disbelieving, at the man who could have taken everything from her and had offered her the world instead.

After a few long moments, Himura sighed. He straightened his shoulders, long ponytail falling evenly down his back. He smiled. "Now. If you have strength enough to walk another quarter mile, I'll happily pay your passage on that coach. We may not have enough time to replace your kimono, but I can give you enough money to buy a new one when you arrive." Turning, he started off into the wintry twilight of the forest.

Kaoru stared after him, her feet feeling frozen to the ground of the clearing. She took a few slow, vaporous breaths.

"You know," she said finally, her voice so soft she was certain for a moment that he hadn't heard. But he stopped immediately, his silhouette stilling against the trees. "It seems like an awful lot of bother, coming all this way West just to go East again."

Hesitantly, he turned to face her. "I… could buy you passage in any direction," he offered.

Shaking her head, Kaoru fidgeted with the sleeves of her kimono. "I'm very tired," she said. "And traveling is exhausting."

"You could… sleep on the coach?"

"And all my things are back with the procession," she added.

"I could send them after you," he replied, sounding more doubtful now.

Decisively, Kaoru shook her head. "No," she said, "It won't do. It's just too much trouble." She picked her way through the snow, catching up with him where he stood in perplexed silence in the shadows of the trees. Once she'd reached his side she looked up into his eyes and offered him a cautious smile. "Besides," she said meaningfully, "These woods are beautiful in the snow. Just imagine how they'll look in spring when the cherry blossoms bloom."

His face softened in realization, and he returned her smile. "They are very lovely, it's true."

"Then I insist on staying. How rude of you, to suggest I leave without seeing them."

"How can I ever make it up to you?"

It was so easy, she realized, to talk to him. So easy that she didn't think twice before reaching out and laying gentle fingers on his arm.

"By taking me home."

He did.

Behind them, bit by bit, the little black stone at the top of the cairn was buried by the silent snow. Kaoru would see it again, though. In spring.


End file.
